Coffee! Damn you!

So, I just got my test results from my most recent doctor visit... and my cholesterol is STILL high.  It's been about 6 months since my last test.  In that time, I've lost weight, increased exercise and changed my diet.

Sigh.

So I may need drugs.  BUT first, I'm going to try further altering my diet.  And one of the apparent culprits.  COFFEE.

Unfiltered coffee seems to boost cholesterol the most, although a handful of recent studies hint that filtered coffee may have an effect on cholesterol, too. In one study, researchers in Sweden found that people who normally drank filtered coffee experienced a small drop in cholesterol levels when they stopped drinking coffee for a few weeks. The results were "surprising," according to Dr. Elisabeth Strandhagen, of Sahlgrenska University Hospital(CK) in Goteborg, who led the study.
"Coffee & Cholesterol", MSNBC Article

The reason is apparently cause by "oils called terpenes".  According to the journal Molecular Endocrinology:

Cafestol, a compound found in coffee, elevates cholesterol by hijacking a receptor in an intestinal pathway critical to its regulation, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears in the July issue of the journal Molecular Endocrinology.
How Coffee Raises Cholesterol, Science Daily

So... the bottom line is.  No more pots of Joe for me.  It's Green Tea all the way -- until I find out that's bad for me too.  My father also suggested Niacin... a vitamin B complex.  The only possible bad side-affect... hot-flashes.  It's like I'm going through menopause.

Niacin or nicotinic acid, one of the water-soluble B vitamins, improves all lipoproteins when given in doses well above the vitamin requirement. Nicotinic acid lowers the total cholesterol, "bad" LDL-cholesterol, and triglyceride levels, while raising the "good" HDL-cholesterol level.

A common and troublesome side effect of nicotinic acid is flushing or hot flashes, which are the result of the widening of blood vessels. Most patients develop a tolerance to flushing, and in some patients, it can be decreased by taking the drug during or after meals or by the use of aspirin or other similar medications prescribed by your doctor.
Medicinenet.com